


Short Stop

by jencsi



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22348171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jencsi/pseuds/jencsi
Summary: Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Short Stop

1975

Julie cannot sit still. Her mother is cooking dinner and she is anxiously waiting for her father to get home from work. She has something very very important to tell him and it seems like it’s taking him longer than usual to get home. Julie fidgets in her seat at the kitchen counter as she watches her mother finish a salad. 

“Did you set the table?” her mother asks. 

“Yes,” Julie says in mild annoyance, she’s only seven but has so much sass for her age. 

In the back of Karen’s mind, she cannot help but think of her sister in law Connie who is her real mother and clearly has given Julie all the same traits as her. She shakes those thoughts when she hears Patrick’s car door shut, indicating he is home. Julie lights up, squirming out of her seat. 

“Patience,” Karen warns her knowing how Julie will bombard Patrick as soon as he walks in the door. It’s nothing he can’t handle but after a long day at the hospital, she doesn’t want him any more stressed. 

Julie disobeys this request, sliding out of the chair, her feet landing hard on the kitchen floor as Patrick walks through the door. 

“Daddy!’ Julie screeches for him, leaping right at him. He is fast and catches her in his arms. 

“Hi sweet pea,” he greets her “did you have a good day at school?”

“It’s boring,” Julie complains as Patrick sways with her in his arms “but after school, I saw something really cool, I have to show you!” 

She squirms in his arms now, anxious to be let down so he sets her back on the ground and she races off to retrieve whatever it is she has to show him. 

“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” Patrick asks Karen now. 

“It’s a good thing,” Karen assures him as Julie races back into the kitchen clutching a piece of paper. 

“Look!” she exclaims, dancing around with the paper in front of her father “baseball try outs are this weekend and I want to go!” 

Patrick had been teaching her the game and she had played in the street with some of her friends over the summer and now it looked like the school was forming a little league softball team for the kids in the second and third grade. 

“Please can we go?” Julie begs, clasping her tiny hands together and bouncing up and down. 

“Sure kiddo,” Patrick agrees, reading over the requirements on the flyer. She’s the right age, has her own gear to try out with, and has no health risks. 

“Yes!” Julie yells in delight, jumping up and down. 

She babbles about the game, her friends, the long wait until Saturday and it’s only Thursday. It might not seem like much, but to her at seven years old, it’s the bee’s knees. 

Saturday 

Julie clutches her bat and glove has her father escorts her onto the middle school’s baseball diamond. There are dugouts for each team but since this is just a tryout, the kids and parents gather around just one space. Some kids are already warming up on the field with some assistant coaches, some parents are mingling, watching their kids play, and some are checking in with the head coach who carries a clipboard with the roster and other paperwork for each kid. 

Patrick leads Julie over to the coach who must be a parent, but he doesn’t recognize him as any of Julie’s classmates’ parents. They wait in the line to check in, Julie swaying on her toes in anxiousness. When it’s finally their turn, the coach asks for their names without even looking up from the clipboard. 

“Patrick Finlay and my daughter Julie is trying out today,” Patrick says. 

“Age and classroom she belongs to?” the coach asks. 

“She’s seven and in second grade, Miss Sullivan is her teacher.” Patrick explains. 

At this moment, the coach looks up and sees Julie, eyeing her from top to bottom. 

“She’s too small,” he declares immediately “can’t let her play with the big kids.”

He nods to some of the boys on the field warming up who can’t be more than a year older than her. 

“Oh, come on,” Patrick protests “she’s a little short for her age but she can play, this is just for fun right?”

“Doesn’t matter,” the coach says gruffly “can’t risk a head injury to her, if one of those kids pitches too low, she’s out.” 

Julie seems to realize what’s going on and she protests. 

“I want to play,” she demands “I’ve been practicing.” 

“Sorry kid, maybe next year,” the coach dismisses her and practically shoos them away. 

“That’s not fair!” Julie whines as Patrick takes her back to the car “daddy I wanted to play!” 

“I’m sorry slugger,” Patrick sympathizes with her, but he is still stunned and not sure how to fight this rule. 

The drive home is silent and when Julie shuffles back into the house, Karen is surprised to see them so soon. 

“That was fast,” Karen says, “how did she do?”

“Coach said I couldn’t play because I’m too little,” Julie says with obvious sadness in her voice, possibly on the verge of tears. 

“What?” Karen says horrified, looking at Patrick “that can’t be right!”

“That’s what he said,” Patrick confirms “she’s small for her age and that could affect how she hits the ball or if some kid throws a bad pitch and it hits her, it could give her a concussion and no one wants that.”

“But there are kids way smaller than her in that class!” Karen protests “who was that coach?”

“Billy’s dad, Mr. Parker,” Julie confirms sadly. 

“You need to go back there and demand that she plays,” Karen said, “come on, I’ll go with you.”

“I don’t think there’s a way to change his mind,” Patrick says, nervous, hating confrontation. 

“You’ve been practicing with her,” Karen reminds him “you said she’s good, she’s going to play, no one is going to tell my baby they can’t do something.” 

She takes Julie’s hand and marches her back to the car. 

“Mommy’s gonna fix it,” Julie chants happily as Patrick drives them back to the field. 

Patrick loves his headstrong wife and now their even more determined daughter but picking a fight when there’s no reason to is not his forte. Nevertheless, Karen marches right back up to coach Parker, clutching Julie’s hand. 

“Hi, we’re here to try out again,” Karen says in her mock polite tone.

“I’m sorry ma’am,” Coach Parker says, “I told your husband she’s too small to play.”

“You didn’t even get to see what she can do,” Karen insists “It’s only fair.”

“I don’t make the rules,” Parker says, “the school does for the kid’s safety.”

“I suppose,” Karen says in that same fake polite tone “but Julie knows how to be safe, and correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that your son eating dirt over there, as we speak?” 

She nodded to the dugout where a little boy was crouched in the dirt, looking bored and unbothered by the try outs, focusing instead on the pile of dirt and sand in his hand. 

Coach Parker sighed, looking back at Julie who reached for a helmet from the stack on the bench and jammed it on her head, ready to go. 

“Fine,” Coach Parker sighed “get out there.” 

“Go get em baby,” Karen encouraged as Julie marched confidently out to the field to wait in line to bat. 

Patrick gaped at Karen as they sat down on the bench to watch Julie play. 

“See, that’s how it’s done.” Karen said smugly, grinning at her victory. 

Julie was the fifth kid in line. When it was finally her turn and the pitcher tossed the ball, she swung and missed. 

“Good try!” Karen praised her from the stands. 

The pitcher tossed the ball again and again she missed. 

“Oh no, I thought you said she was ready?” Karen snapped at Patrick for getting her hopes up. 

“Just watch,” Patrick said with a grin and Karen did not understand why he was smiling. 

On the third and final pitch, the metal bat made contact with the ball with a sharp crack that echoed over the stands. The ball sailed over all the kid’s heads, out over the field and way beyond anyone’s reach. Julie ran, stomping on first base, then second, then third, finally sliding into home. The other kids behind her waiting to bat cheered her on with both Coach Parker and the kid who pitched stood there, staring at her in shock. 

“Told you,” Patrick said smugly to Karen who had jumped out of her seat to grab him and cheer in excitement. 

It was chaos as the kids surrounded Julie, stunned by her performance despite her size. When Julie found her way back to her parents, Patrick scooped her up, bouncing her playfully as they went back to speak to Coach Parker. 

“First game is next Saturday at nine,” he informed them “keep working on that arm kid.” 

Julie nodded, grinning, smug, just like her parents, happy to have proved them all wrong, doing exactly what her father taught her to on the field, miss two then smack it out of the park. They had perfected that signature move last summer, to Karen’s surprise as well. Though she seemed small, she was strong and victory was sure to be theirs by the end of the season.


End file.
